Mercer got beat in his prime by "Jesse Ferguson", a journeyman who retired 28-16. His second best win is Morrison, a gatekeeper almost solely remembered for getting AIDS (few remember that he KOd glass jaw Ruddock). Parker, who Whyte beat, would not only beat everybody Mercer beat, but he'd also beat Mercer too. There are levels and over decades the sport evolves. Even if you choose to deny this fact, Parker is just straight up better than Mercer. Faster hands, better chin, taller, heavier, around the same foot speed.. And Whyte dropped him twice en route to a decision. You don't see modern HW contenders losing to 28-16 journeymen, especially contenders who arguably beat the "Greatest of the Era"
I think a fairer question would be Anthony Joshua vs Frank Bruno Skillset. Because Lewis is a few notches above both in most areas, but I think AJ and FB would be more of an even stevens comparison
B.. B.. B.. But Lennox beat a fat one dimensional Tua and 37yo Holyfield (with the second fight being close) that makes him the GOAT right? Lennox is clearly good.. But his resume resembles Morrisons condition
What is this evolution BS. Boxing is incredibly different from most sports. Boxers have traits such as ring IQ basic fundamentals that have been around for decades, power, speed, etc. The art of boxing hasn't changed much at all for the last several decades. "Hit and don't get hit" "knock our your opponent" Its the reason why boxers can be have bad IQ and still have success nowadays. You have sloppy men such as Rolly Romero in the top 10 and Wilder being champ for several years because of this fact. You're not going to sit here and tell me. Lomachenko, the boxing purists dreamboy, lost to a basic counterpuncher like Lopez. Your not going to sit here and tell me Errol Spence is more skilled than Sugar Ray Leonard and would have beaten him. Southpaws like Lomachenko and Stevenson are not better than Pernell Whitaker. Lomachenko isn't even beating Chavez. GGG os one of the most basic and fundamentally sound fighters, had lots of success in his prime and even now as a slow 40 year old with weak legs and you're telling me Monzon and Hagler aren't dominating today ? Let alone ccompeting ? Does prime Michael Nunn get washed in todays era because he fought in the 80s and 90s ? FFS.... Humans aren't hitting harder now than the past. Humans don't have faster hands than they do now, boxing technique hasn't changed, not since the blurry era containing the 40s and 50s at least, only the nutritional science and conditioning. It's not like Lewis fought in the 20s and 30s. He fought into the 2000s. Klitschko was so basic, less skilled and less diverse with his offense than Lewis but dominated for a decade. And yes Klitschko at 41 and inactive, Fourty one and inactive ! pushed a focused prime Joshua to his limit and had he stepped on the gas, he would've knocked him out. Parker struggled with the pressure of shopworn Chisora. Mercer had an iron chin and would cause his problems with the jab. If the Mercer that showed up against Morrison, Holyfield, and Lewis fights Parker, he wins. Parker beats an unfocused Mercer. Mercer was unfocused a lot and came in overweight sometimes so he had his ups and downs. You want to go down that route ? Michael Hunter - draws with Povetkin and arguably took it. Also gets a gift decision against Jerry Forest - and journeyman Forest will certainly have a terrible record once he retires. Takam - drew with Mike Perez, KO'd by 32-12 Chisora (32-13 after he rematches Pulev) Adam Kownacki was top 10 before losing to journeyman Robert Helenius. Bermane Stiverne - top 10 fighter for 5 years in a row. KO'd by a 15-20 Journeyman who was 11-15 at the time. Drew with 17-17 Davis Charles. Even more losses i wouldn't want to speak about At the very least Jesse Ferguson beat Buster Douglas. A decent win. Can't say the same for these guys.
He might be taller I don’t know. Without a time machine to see both of them measured in bare feet we will never know. The rest of the post is absolute nonsense.
That just as one sided of a comparison. Debabtly AJ has better uppercut than Lewis but that's all I can think of as Lewis was superior. AJ was superior in almost everything to Bruno.
B.. B.. B.. But Joshua beat a mediocre glass chin Dillian Whyte and a 41yo inactive Klitschko (life and death war while getting dropped) that must mean his resume rivals Lewis right ? Their resume are levels apart as of now. Even most Joshua fans and Lewis haters admit it. Lewis H2H also smokes Joshua.
For people to compare AJ to Lennox would feel like 2012 when people compared Broner to Floyd There is no comparison.
Joshua's footwork is pretty much his biggest technical flaw. Any decent HW would have looked fleet of foot vs a 20 stone immobile fat man like Ruiz. Lewis' game plan vs Tua was to keep away from that left hook, which he did to great success. That's achieved through footwork, surely...
Hunter- Beat 40 years old man who was previously beaten by KO by the world champion when he was younger. Hunter has done nothing whatsoever at the world class level besides a lucky draw vs an old man. Jerry Forrest- Never been in with a proven world class opponent except for Pulev, who whooped him 100-90 Takam- Mike Perez? HW? What? He was never any good at HW if I remember correctly. Adam Kownacki never beat anybody world class Stiverne- Who did Stiverne ever beat? He was just a marketing trick for Americans. He was always awful and everybody outside of the USA probably always knew it. Face it, nobody nowadays has a record of 28-16 and beats a former undisputed champion and a guy who arguably beats a unified champion. Even with all of the examples on this list, none of them are as egregious as Jesse Ferguson. It simply doesn't happen with how advanced the modern sport is.
I didn't even say I thought AJ was better than Lennox. But yeah, his resume is way over hyped and the guys who grew up in the 90s worship him like God despite the fact that he was lucky to come into an era where boxing's popularity had both declined in the USA and not taken off yet in Eastern Europe. Maybe talent pool wise the weakest era in anybody here's lifetime. (Although, still, obviously, contenders from the 90s would on average beat contenders from previous eras)
Ok let’s see. Firstly I believe Bruno’s Jab is better than Joshua’s and I’d also give Bruno the edge on punching power. Both close enough to be debatable, but I veer towards Bruno. The punch resistance and chin of both isn’t good…Bruno was stopped or KO’d by guys who were or went on to become World champions, but in a few of them especially against Lewis and Smith he was ahead on points and doing well, utilising his jab to perfection and dominating the exchanges. Would AJ have dominated Lewis in the way Bruno did? Personally I doubt it. Anyway Bruno’s poor punch resistance let him down against Lewis just as it did against Tyson twice, Witherspoon etc. AJ has only been stopped once, albeit in many many less fights than Bruno, but his chin remains suspect. I would still give him the edge on Frank in that department. Joshua is also a better mover on his feet…which isn’t saying much as Frank was as flat footed as they come…and he was a more adaptable fighter than Frank in that he could, if needed get on his bike to see out a fight.If Frank did that more often he might have avoided a few of his KO defeats. Stamina wise, both aren’t great. All in all, AJ is a better all round fighter yes, but no way is the disparity between them as huge as you say, and definitely not as huge as the difference between Lewis and Joshua. Not in my view anyway
Maybe because you have to wait a generation for fighters to retire and seal the deal on their record ? For all you know Chisora could follow Bert Coopers path and retire 32-30 instead of his current 32-12 record. You have no idea what you're talking about. Mercer had ups and downs because he lacked discipline and dedication, not because the sport has evolved since the 1990s lmao what kind of sh*t is that lol. Klitschko in his prime would've schooled Joshua for a few rounds before blasting him into a unconscious musclar husk on the canvas, let a prime Lennox Lewis
